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VFK Lost Mines Quest
Description On January 24th, 1848, James Marshall, the construction foreman at Sutter's Mill found gold in the American River in Coloma, California. This discovery ignited one of the most exciting and chaotic times in America history, the California Gold Rush. "Gold Fever" swept the world. With tens of thousands of prospectors, it wasn't long before stories of "lost mines" began to arise. Miners became sick, were killed, or simply lost their way back to their rich strikes of gold, and stories of these lost mines throughout the American Southwest became legends. Whether these legends are fiction or fact, dreams of finding one of these "Lost Mines" still continue to capture the imagination of modern day prospectors. On today's quest, we are going searching for lost mines. Prizes Questions 1. John Sutter and James Marshall tried to keep the discovery of gold a secret, however it was not long before the word began to leak out. By the middle of March, a brief article appeared in the San Francisco newspaper, the "Californian". In May, an enterprising store owner from Sutter's Fort, Sam Brannan stocked his store with mining supplies, filled a small bottle with gold, then traveled to San Francisco. He spread the word around town of the discovery of gold. Almost overnight, the California Gold Rush was on. People from every walk of life dropped everything and headed to Coloma and the surrounding area to search for gold. By the end of November, 1848 the east coast papers were carrying the story. Where did President James Polk acknowledge the gold strike, making it official? * At a Presidential banquet * At his farewell address * At the signing of the acquisition of California * At a special Legislative Session 2. Almost overnight, over 500 mining camps, villages and towns sprang up. The height of the immigration was in 1849, thus the miners were dubbed "forty-niners." In 1849 alone, over 80,000 prospectors flooded into California. People came from every corner of the world, but most of the miners were from America. There were three ways to reach California, over land on the California Trail, by ocean around Cape Horn, or through the shortcut in Panama. The trail to California over land was over a series of routes that were all expensive, dangerous and took a long time. Because of this, many miners traveling to California prospected as they went and gold was found and "lost" along the way. Go to the Main Street in the Victorian Age and say what Brannan said as he ran through the streets of San Francisco, say: "Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River!" 3. The gold fields of California started out in the area surrounding Coloma then spread further out. Initially, the miners panned for gold in the streambeds where gold had eroded out of the source deposits in the mountains and had washed down in the streams. Washing gold from either ancient or recent alluvial deposits is called "Placer mining". They also moved upstream and into the mountains looking for the source of the gold, or the "Mother Lode." The source of the gold was a huge zone of gold bearing deposits stretching from the northwest to the southeast in the Sierra Nevada's of California. It is approximately 120 miles long and anywhere from one to four miles wide. With such a huge Mother Lode, there were many places to find gold and many mines dug in the mountains. What kind of rock primarily contained the gold? * Feldspar * Basalt * Shale * Quartz 4. Because California had been ceded to the United States only days after the discovery of gold, it was not yet a state and proper law enforcement was not in place. With so many people coming into the area, they could do most anything they wanted. It was a very rough time and if you found a rich deposit, you were either likely to tell only others you could trust so that they could help you protect your claim, or you kept it a secret. In addition, the Indian tribes largely resented the influx of miners and often felt that the miners were trespassing on their sacred gold sources. In many cases the Indians would attack the miners. Many mines were lost simply because all who knew where a mine was located were killed. Go to the second Outback room in Australia and say this quote from John Sutter whose dreams and property were ruined, say: "Everyone left, from the clerk to the cook." 5. Many of the lost mine legends came from after the gold rush period. One famous lost mine was the Cement Gold Mine of Mammoth Mountain. The legend goes that in 1857, two "California-bound" German men were crossing the head waters of the Owens River and discovered a ledge of red lava filled with what one of the Germans believed to be gold cemented together in the ledge. The one chipped out some of the gold, drew a map to the area and they continued on their journey. By the time the gold-laden German reached San Francisco, his friend had died along the way and he was terminally ill. He paid his doctor with the ore, the map and a description of the area. The Doctor made two expeditions searching for the mine, two of the searchers found it, but lost it again when the "finders" were killed by Indians. What year is considered to be the end of the Gold Rush? * 1858 * 1861 * 1864 * 1867 6. The legend of the lost Dutch Oven Mine tells of Tom Schofield, a railroad worker who went exploring in the Clipper Mountains near an area he was surveying. He hiked way into the mountains and stumbled upon what looked like an old Spanish camp containing rusty mining tools and an old iron Dutch oven. He found a mine shaft, the skeletons of seven donkeys and gold rich quartz ore next to the shaft. After spending the night, he was leaving the camp when he tripped over the Dutch oven and some pure gold nuggets came out. He carried as much of the gold out as he could, spent all the money, but was not able to return to the Clipper Mountains for two years. He was never able to locate the mine again. The Dutch Oven mine continues to be lost even today. Go to Stonehenge and say this quote by Mark Twain, say: "Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." 7. The remote, barren inferno known as Death Valley, California has attained legendary status in the mining community due to its rich ore deposits and many mines. The mines include not only "found" and developed mines, but a long list of lost mines as well, the most famous of which is the Lost Gunsight Mine. The story behind this mine tells of some miners who had a homemade rifle sight made from pure silver that they found when crossing Death Valley. The sight created quite a stir and generated a flurry of prospecting for gold and silver in Death Valley. Even though many other mines were discovered, the silver deposit of the Lost Gunsight Mine was never found. What person named many of Death Valley's features and discovered veins of silver while searching for the Lost Gunsight Mine? * John Galler * J.W. Brier * Captain Towne * Dr. Darwin French 8. Silver mining has been an important part of the history and economy of the southwestern states. One of the most famous silver discoveries was in Nevada by a man called James Hardin. The Lost Hardin Silver Placer has confounded prospectors since its discovery in 1849. Harden and his friend John Lambert, both emigrants going to Oregon were camped at the western edge of the Black Rock Range. When hunting, they came upon a "dry sandy wash" full of lumps of heavy dark grey metal which they thought were lead. They took as much as they could carry but didn't discover it was silver until years later. When Hardin returned to look for the mine ten years later, he never found it. Go to outside the hotel in the Wild West Age and say this famous quote by J.B. Soule, say: "Go West, young man, and grow up with the Country." 9. The Lost Dutchman's Mine in the Superstition Mountains in AZ is perhaps one of the most famous lost mines. The story tells of a German prospector, Jacob Waltz, who braved the perils of the marauding Apache Indians to prospect in the Superstition Mountains and return with small quantities of rich gold ore. The legend has grown more complex with the telling and says that Waltz found a rich mine the Peralta family abandoned when Apaches attacked them. When Waltz died at the home of his neighbor, Julia Thomas, he supposedly told her its location. Thomas, with the help of the Petrasch brothers hunted for the mine, but never found it. Thomas drew and sold many "treasure maps" to recover her prospecting costs. Who is the first writer who published Thomas's story of the Lost Dutchman Mine and whose stories and tales of lost mines fueled the imagination of generations of lost mine seekers? * Barry Storm * Louis Peralta * Oren Arnold * Peirpoint Constable Bicknell 10. Another well publicized legendary lost mine located in California is Pegleg's Lost Mine. Thomas Smith, a tough mountain man known as a fur trader, a horse rustler and a trapper, lost his leg when shot by an arrow on a trapping expedition. His friends made him a wooden leg and gave him the nickname, Pegleg. On a trapping trip, Pegleg gathered some pebbles he thought were copper on top of one of three buttes in the Colorado desert which turned out to be gold. Stories and legends abound about Pegleg's Lost Mine with many people telling tales and many conflicting "facts." Like so many of the stories surrounding lost mines, it is difficult to separate fact from legend. Go to King Arthur's Round Table Room in Medieval Age and say a quote by Oren Arnold. Say, "Don't let the truth stand in the way of a good story." Answers 1. At his farewell address 2. Go to Main Street and say, "Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River!" 3. Quartz 4. Go to The Olgas (Room 2) and say, "Everyone left, from the clerk to the cook." 5. 1858 6. Go to Stonehenge and say, "Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." 7. Dr. Darwin French 8. Go to the Grand Hotel and say, "Go West, young man, and grow up with the Country." 9. Peirpoint Constable Bicknell 10. Go to Arthur's Round Table and say, "Don't let the truth stand in the way of a good story." Category:Quests